


So You Wanna...

by Sarisia (Rrrowr)



Series: Animorphs: Home Series [2]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-23
Updated: 2012-03-23
Packaged: 2017-11-02 10:06:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/367803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rrrowr/pseuds/Sarisia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before going to meet the President, Ax is reluctantly teaching human cadets how to morph and Marco sorta takes over the class for fun. Because Ax gets moody, Marco cheers him up with something to look forward to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So You Wanna...

It was _very_ cool being an Animorph, Colonel Sangretti was thinking to herself as she surveyed the cadets fresh out of the Academy and practically begging to be able to touch the blue cube on the table beside her. Who wouldn't want to shape shift, for crying out loud? It was so neat!

"So, you've studied the animals whose DNA you will shortly be able to morph into?" she asked, addressing the cadets and speaking of the full grown cat and the garden snake — both of which were also on the table on either side of the blue cube. 

No matter how laid back her thoughts were, Sangretti was always standing at full attention when in the company of new comers, hands on her hips and eyes staring squarely into the eyes of each cadet. Each set of eyes averted. ( _Good. Be nervous._ ) They were small in number; the Animorphs that had fought in the war may have winged it, but that was then and this was now. The Academy didn't let anyone, who didn't know full well each and every animal's strengths and weaknesses (and thought processes for some), graduate. It was a strategic thing and even fewer in number made it past her.

"Sir, yes, sir!" 

The cadets spoke as one, as expected. If there was anything she hated about kids from the Academy, it was that they were all so droll and monotonous. They might be able to do strategy, but they also needed to be able to think on their feet. And no matter how cool it was to be an Animorph, having to morph back into a human before going to a different animal was a distinct disadvantage.

"We'll see about that," she said and stood to the side so that her companion could take over. 

Still unnamed in her mind, the beautiful man that had been led into her office this morning stepped forward. Geez, he was so pretty it was unnatural, but she had the sneaking suspicion that he was one of the original Animorphs if Marco's presence — slightly off to the side, but still watching attentively and with no small amount of humor — was anything to go by. It was a foolish assumption, of course. She knew what the Animorphs looked like. If Beautiful was the Andalite, he would look like a teenager instead of the tall man he was.

"Cadet Thurman," the beautiful man called and a broad-shouldered, strong-jawed man stepped up to the table. Thurman hesitated and Beautiful cast his eyes toward the tables contents. "The cube," Beautiful indicated with a sigh of irritation. "You'll have to touch it before you can do anything else."

Nodding and wiping one palm on his pants, the cadet reached out and solidly put his hand on the device. Thurman looked up to Beautiful, brows raised. "How long does this take, sir?" he asked.

"Have you felt anything in your hand yet?" Beautiful asked.

"A slight tingle, sir, but—"

"Then you may return to your line," Beautiful cut in without preamble and indicated that Thurman was to step back now with a curt jab of his pen. On the sidelines, Marco snorted and then pulled his cap in front of his face to keep from seeing the cadets shooting glares at him. Meanwhile, Beautiful called the next name.

It went on like this for a while. One by one, the cadets nervously gained the ability to morph through the blue cube and Beautiful got more and more irritated about their jitters — even taking to muttering under his breath. Beautiful maintained a curt demeanor that was this side of rude, but he got the job done quickly and efficiently. Sangretti handled the animals while Beautiful explained the morphing processes in great detail, making sure that each cadet understood what it would be like beforehand. After morphing into one animal, they would return to human form and repeat the process with the second.

"Because you are all highly trained already, I feel inclined to give you only this warning," Beautiful went on as Sangretti pulled out the garden snake. "Watch what you're thinking in your morph. Not only will your fellow students be able to hear you, but so will my partner and I. It will take time for you to learn how to speak privately. Any questions?"

Shockingly, one cadet stepped forward. "Sir," the cadet — Jonesy — said, inclining her head to Beautiful. "With all due respect, are you one of the original Animorphs, sir? You seem familiar, but—"

"Yes, I am," Beautiful said just as brusquely as he had all morning, but despite that, even Sangretti had to look at him twice at that release of information. _Him? One of the originals?_ Beautiful looked surly at just having to mention it. "Anything else?" While the cadets seemed to mumble and whisper to themselves, there were no more questions.

Marco trotted over cheerfully while the cadets started in on the garden snake DNA, grinned at them all, and spoke with Beautiful for a few moments. Whatever Marco said seemed to make Beautiful easier to deal with, but he was no less efficient in keeping things running. Sangretti thought he might be trying to hurry things up just a little bit more, but Marco ruined it by taking over. This was beginning to get reckless!

"Okay, listen up, kids," Marco said, shimmying out of his baggy jeans and shucking off his shirt. He saw the cadets shift uncomfortably when they saw that he was wearing standard issue morphing trunks; they were like a second skin, sure, but it wasn't like they were speedos. They went all the way from his bellybutton to his knees! Honestly... "Oh, don't give me that," he told them. "I know you've got these same things under your uniforms."

It was true, Sangretti admitted. Even she was wearing hers. What could she say? They were comfortable to boot.

"Now, off with the uniforms unless you don't mind having them wrinkled by the end of the lesson," Marco ordered. It was a lighter kind of the abruptness Beautiful had been spouting earlier. Maybe Beautiful _was_ one of the Animorphs. Huh.

The cadets took off their uniform in typical Academy manner. It was all very neat and orderly. All the shirts were folded and the slacks were creased down the middle of each leg; the jacket, even, was arranged neatly on top of it all, while the shoes and socks were tucked underneath. Marco looked approvingly at them all.

"The garden snake," Marco started off, taking it from my hands gingerly. "Look at it. Memorize it. The face, the scales. Remember how the internal organs are arranged. All of it. You will need this." He put the snake back into its cage. "If you don't get the morph correctly the first time, you could die. If you don't _complete_ the morph, you could die. Do not pause. Do not hesitate. Do not think about anything other than becoming that snake."

Beautiful piped up from where he was leaning against the cat carrier. "If you do well in this, perhaps your government will allow you use of the new developments." It was a goal meant to encourage the cadets to get it right the first time, but while Sangretti was frowning at him for breaching confidentiality, Marco was grinning and jamming his hands into his pockets.

"Ooh, yeah," Marco said. "Lovin' that new development. It's very cool."

*

"Ah, that was such a good way to start off the morning," Marco, retired Animorph and movie star, said as he trailed after Ax with a cigarette in his mouth. Not that he smoked, mind you. The cigarette was unlit, but it apparently made him look cool. "Intimidating cadets and getting them half naked, too. No icky morphing problems. Just good, sorta clean, morphing fun."

They were following Colonel Sangretti to a helicopter that would take them to see the President. She was still a little miffed that Marco had a pack of cigarettes in his pocket and earlier she'd even tried arguing him out of his apparent addiction. It was a ridiculous maneuver on her part. She'd insisted that he would get lung cancer and respiratory problems and that tobacco was addictive and bad for one's fertility. Marco didn't know where she dragged out half of her ideas from, though he suspected that it was her ass, and told her that even if he did smoke, it wouldn't matter to an Animorph. When he'd tried to explain that he didn't actually smoke — he liked more primal addiction, thank you very much — she didn't believe him, so he just fought on the smoker's side because that was easier than trying to convince her otherwise.

"My body reconstructs itself in perfect health every time I morph back into a human," he had shot at her once she'd given him a chance. "There are zero harmful chemicals in my blood. My lungs are never damaged and any cancer I might develop would be gone the instant I morphed. It doesn't even become an addiction. I could stop at any time I wanted. Look; my teeth are pearly white too."

Sangretti had looked faintly repulsed, but intrigue was winning out. "Wouldn't it be uncomfortable to start smoking again after each morph?" she had asked.

"No way," he'd replied. "The reason people choke on the smoke on the first time is because they don't know _how_ to smoke without breathing in too much. It's all in how you do it, not the state of your lungs."

"But all the money you spend on cigarettes—"

"Pssht. I like it and it suits me. Plus, Ax still likes to eat the cigarette butts." Ah, the real reason that he was lugging around a pack of cigarettes.

"Ax?" Sangretti had cast a skeptical eye toward Marco's companion. "You mean "Beautiful"? He eats them?"

"Beautiful?" Marco had repeated and had shamefully licked his lips at the nickname. Sangretti probably though he had a thing for her now. "Says they taste... interesting."

Ax had tensed up at the mere mention of his name, but now... now he was marching angrily in front of him as they crossed the White House lawn. Once the helicopter whirr died off, Marco could hear him muttering about revealing embarrassing and private habits "to the whole fucking world." Goddamn! Where did Ax learn that kind of language?

"Hey," Marco said, having to walk a little faster to match Ax's long strides. God, he hated being short. His tone dropped to a whisper when he saw the President — with fully armed escort — striding across the lawn to meet them. "Hey, what do you say to sex after the meeting?"

"Sex?" Ax repeated, also in a whisper, and Marco was glad to have found something that Ax didn't mind talking about. At least the guy had slowed his pace a little because of his interest.

"Yeah, you know." Marco fought the embarassed feelings that he was asking this on the lawn in front of the fucking White House. Wow! "That thing we did when you got back. You remember?"

"Of course." A quick response with no pronunciation dictation afterwards. Ax must be very interested.

"You liked it then?" Marco couldn't help but try and get some bragging rights out of this.

"Oh, yes." Mmm, alpha-male Ax was pressing in on Marco's personal space. "I liked it."

"I liked it too." Sly smile. smoldering gaze. "Then it's a date," he whispered. "We'll fly back to my place as soon as the meeting's over and—"

Getting cut off by a kiss could never be a bad thing in Marco's book. Getting cut off by a kiss on the White House lawn in front of the President was even better. Thank god the press wasn't closer than several hundred yards from where he was getting smooched to death by a friggin' Andalite turned very pretty man was too awesome for tabloids and pictures and words.

Damn, if only the rest of the Animorphs could see them now!


End file.
